The Carbon County Sheriff’s Office is reopening a 40-year-old fatal shooting investigation and is asking for help from the public in unraveling the mystery.
The case involves the death of Boyd Kimber Harvey of Cleveland, the 34-year-old father of eight who was shot in the abdomen near Clear Creek on Oct. 18, 1975. It was the opening day of the general deer season.
According to detectives Sgt. David Brewer and Wally Hendricks, Harvey had left his camp on horseback at about 4 p.m. and was found with a severe wound about 45 minutes later by other hunters. The Sun Advocate had reported that about 15 hunters gathered at the scene and helped move the victim several hundred yards through mud to bring him to a waiting ambulance.
The ambulance arrived at the county hospital at 8:10 p.m., but Harvey had died en route.
“It was not an accidental shooting with his own gun and it was not a suicide,” Hendricks said. Brewer noted that there were 190,000 people in the field during that hunt and the shot most likely came from another hunter. The mystery is whether the shot was accidental or intentional.
“Somebody had to hear something, somebody had to see something, maybe the victim himself said something before he died,” Hendricks said. So Sheriff Jeff Wood has directed the case be reopened.
Brewer and Hendricks said that anyone who was in the area at the time, or has talked to anyone who was there, should contact the Sheriff’s Office. “It doesn’t matter if they think it’s too far fetched,” Brewer said. Any information is welcome. The number to call is 435-636-3281.
“Even though it happened a long time ago, a human being died tragically in our county and I feel strongly that there is information available that would prove useful,” Sheriff Wood said.
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